GHz Wave Research Articles

Synergy of two lower hybrid waves with different frequencies on EAST

Lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) is one of the major approaches maintaining long pulse discharges on EAST. There are two lower hybrid (LH) systems on EAST launching waves at 4.6 GHz and 2.45 GHz into the plasma, respectively, and the input power of the 4.6 GHz wave is typically dominant. In this work, the synergy of the two waves and the modification of the power deposition of the 4.6 GHz wave by coupling the 2.45 GHz wave are investigated theoretically. According to the phase space analysis, the wave propagation domains of the two LH waves always overlap substantially with each other for typical LHCD experimental parameters on EAST, indicating that the coupling between them might be strong. Ray-tracing/Fokker-Planck simulations for a LH current drive experiment on EAST show that the change of the power deposition profile due to the coupling could be understood by the rise and fall of the tails of the parallel electron distribution functions on different flux surfaces. If either the injected wave power at 2.45 GHz is comparable with that at 4.6 GHz or the incident N∥ of the 2.45 GHz wave reaches a high value (e.g., 5.7/Te,0), the power deposition profile of the 4.6 GHz wave can be modified greatly due to the coupling with the 2.45 GHz wave. With the parameters compatible with the ability of the LH wave system on EAST, injection of the 2.45 GHz wave can still modify the power deposition profile of the 4.6 GHz wave significantly by combining those two approaches. Finally, it is shown how a 4.6 GHz wave which cannot be Landau damped when injected alone is absorbed in low density plasmas with a magnetic shear reversal configuration in the presence of a 2.45 GHz wave.

Theoretical analysis of key factors achieving reversed magnetic shear q-profiles sustained with lower hybrid waves on EAST

The phase space analysis technique is applied to provide new insights into the fully non-inductive lower hybrid current driven (LHCD) discharges on EAST (Garofalo et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 076037). The analysis shows that there are bounded and unbounded topologies of lower hybrid (LH) waves in phase space. For typical parameters on EAST, the propagation domain for 4.6 GHz LH waves is bounded, while unbounded for 2.45 GHz LH waves and one of the conditions is recognized to be good for achieving an off-axis current profile driven by 4.6 GHz LH waves on EAST. The parametric analysis on the potential power deposition (PPD) region for those experiments demonstrates that the reversed magnetic shear dominates the wave behavior, and confines the LH power absorption to the far off-axis region as long as it occurs in the 4.6 GHz dominated LHCD discharge. GENRAY/CQL3D simulations also confirm this effect of reversed shear on the power absorption of 4.6 GHz waves. A bounded propagation domain and a positive feedback loop between magnetic shear reversal and off-axis LHCD profile could explain the LH-only-sustained strong reversed magnetic shear observed in experiments on multiple machines. In contrast, there is no such effect for 2.45 GHz waves on EAST since the PPD region is less sensitive to the change of reversed shear due to the unbounded propagation domain.

Green Communication for NOMA-Based CRAN

The number of wireless devices is growing rapidly on a daily basis echoing the increasing number of applications of the Internet of Thing. Facing massive connections and unavoidable interference, how to provide a green communication is a concerning matter. In this regard, nonorthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) is a natural communications technology that can scale with the massive number of simultaneous connections for a limited bandwidth. In this paper, we aim to maximize the energy efficiency (EE) for an NOMA-based cloud radio access network, where sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave bands are used in fronthaul and access links, respectively. In particular, we formulate the power optimization problem to maximize the EE of the system subject to the fronthaul capacity and transmit power constraints. To address this nonconvex problem, we first convert the fractional objective function into a subtractive form. A two-layer algorithm is then proposed. In the outer loop, the ℓ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> -norm technique is adopted to transform the nonconvex fronthaul capacity constraint into a convex one, whereas in the inner loop, the weighted minimum mean square error approach is applied. Simulation results indicate that the proposed NOMA scheme can obtain higher EE as well as throughput when compared with orthogonal multiple-access methods.

Machine Learning-Based Handovers for Sub-6 GHz and mmWave Integrated Vehicular Networks

The integration of sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) bands has a great potential to enable both reliable coverage and high data rate in future vehicular networks. Nevertheless, during mmWave vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) handovers, the coverage blindness of directional beams makes it a significant challenge to discover target mmWave remote radio units (mmW-RRUs) whose active beams may radiate somewhere that the handover vehicles are not in. Besides, fast and soft handovers are also urgently needed in vehicular networks. Based on these observations, to solve the target discovery problem, we utilize channel state information (CSI) of sub-6 GHz bands and Kernel-based machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict vehicles’ positions and then use them to pre-activate target mmW-RRUs. Considering that the regular movement of vehicles on almost linearly paved roads with finite corner turns will generate some regularity in handovers, to accelerate handovers, we propose to use historical handover data and $K$ -nearest neighbor (KNN) ML algorithms to predict handover decisions without involving time-consuming target selection and beam training processes. To achieve soft handovers, we propose to employ vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connections to forward data for V2I links. The theoretical and simulation results are provided to validate the feasibility of the proposed schemes.

Analysis of Outdoor and Indoor Propagation at 15 GHz and Millimeter Wave Frequencies in Microcellular Environment

Analysis of Outdoor and Indoor Propagation at 15 GHz and Millimeter Wave Frequencies in Microcellular Environment

A New Look at Physical Layer Security, Caching, and Wireless Energy Harvesting for Heterogeneous Ultra-Dense Networks

Heterogeneous ultra-dense networks enable ultra-high data rates and ultra-low latency through the use of dense sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) small cells with different antenna configurations. Existing work has widely studied spectral and energy efficiency in such networks and shown that high spectral and energy efficiency can be achieved. This article investigates the benefits of heterogeneous ultra-dense network architecture from the perspectives of three promising technologies, i.e., physical layer security, caching, and wireless energy harvesting, and provides enthusiastic outlook towards application of these technologies in heterogeneous ultra-dense networks. Based on the rationale of each technology, opportunities and challenges are identified to advance the research in this emerging network.

Fully non-inductive second harmonic electron cyclotron plasma ramp-up in the QUEST spherical tokamak

Fully non-inductive second (2nd) harmonic electron cyclotron (EC) plasma current ramp-up was demonstrated with a newlly developed 28 GHz system in the QUEST spherical tokamak. A high plasma current of 54 kA was non-inductively ramped up and sustained stably for 0.9 s with a 270 kW 28 GHz wave. A higher plasma current of 66 kA was also non-inductively achieved with a slow ramp-up of the vertical field. We have achieved a significantly higher plasma current than those achieved previously with the 2nd harmonic EC waves. This fully non-inductive 2nd harmonic EC plasma ramp-up method might be useful for future burning plasma devices and fusion reactors, in particular for operations at half magnetic field with the same EC heating equipment.

Wireless Powered Dense Cellular Networks: How Many Small Cells Do We Need?

This paper focuses on wireless powered 5G dense cellular networks, where base station (BS) delivers energy to user equipment (UE) via the microwave radiation in sub-6 GHz or millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency, and UE uses the harvested energy for uplink information transmission. By addressing the impacts of employing different number of antennas and bandwidths at lower and higher frequencies, we evaluate the amount of harvested energy and throughput in such networks. Based on the derived results, we obtain the required small cell density to achieve an expected level of harvested energy or throughput. Also, we obtain that when the ratio of the number of sub-6 GHz BSs to that of the mmWave BSs is lower than a given threshold, UE harvests more energy from a mmWave BS than a sub-6 GHz BS. We find how many mmWave small cells are needed to perform better than the sub-6 GHz small cells from the perspectives of harvested energy and throughput. Our results reveal that the amount of harvested energy from the mmWave tier can be comparable to the sub-6 GHz counterpart in the dense scenarios. For the same tier scale, mmWave tier can achieve higher throughput. Furthermore, the throughput gap between different mmWave frequencies increases with the mmWave BS density.

Design and Performance of Broadband Dual Layer Circular Polarizer Based on Frequency Selective Surface for X-Band Applications

A dual-layer circular polarizer based on FSS (Frequency Selective Surface) composed of two periodic strips in xoy plane. The transmission characteristic of present structure is comprehensively investigated that convert linearly polarized wave into circular polarized wave at operated frequencies. The designed structure has optimal performance for x-band applications. In addition, the designed model of single and dual-layer circular polarizer feature exceptionally strong circular polarization with low loss transmission and attracted for radar and satellite applications. The designed structures of circular polarizers are simple and can be easy fabricated as well. The transmitted waves are achieved with RHCP (Right Handed Circular Polarization) wave at 9.34 GHz and LHCP (Left Handed Circular Polarization) wave at 10.73 GHZ. The corresponding axial ratio bandwidth is enhanced from 9.16- 10.85GHz = 16.89%, respectively. Meanwhile, the proposed dual-layer circular polarizer achieves transmission with RHCP wave at 9.59 GHz and axial ratio bandwidth is achieved from9.3-11.31GHz = 19.49%, respectively.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Coherent Elastic Strain Waves in a Single MoS2 Flake.

We use bright-field imaging in an ultrafast electron microscope to spatiotemporally map the evolution of photoexcited coherent strain waves in a single, micrometer-size flake of MoS2. Following in situ femtosecond photoexcitation, we observe individual wave trains emerge from discrete nanoscale morphological features and propagate in-plane along specific wave vectors at approximately the speed of sound (7 nm/ps). Over the span of several hundred picoseconds, the 50 GHz wave trains (20 ps periods) are observed to undergo phonon-phonon scattering and wave-train interference, resulting in a transition to larger-scale, incoherent structural dynamics. This incoherent motion further evolves into coherent nanomechanical oscillations over a few nanoseconds, ultimately leading to megahertz, whole-flake multimode resonances having microsecond lifetimes. These results provide insight into the low-frequency structural response of MoS2 to relatively coherent optical photoexcitation by elucidating the origin and the evolution of high-velocity, gigahertz strain waves.

Feasibility study and spatial–temporal characteristics analysis for 28 GHz outdoor wireless channel modelling

This study presents analyses of the feasibility for the 28 GHz band with a comprehensive overview of important channel parameters. A channel measurement system with a time synchronisation scheme is also introduced which is a sliding correlator channel sounder using 250 Mcps (Mega-chips-per-second) pseudo-random noise sequences. The system enables the observation of the behaviour of 28 GHz wave propagation not only to use of forming narrow beams in certain directions (classical narrow beam beamforming) but also omni-likely. This novel synchronised system makes it possible to analyse the wideband channel characteristics. The outdoor channel measurements are conducted considering various features such as foliage effects, signal outage, path loss and outdoor-to-indoor conditions. Furthermore, the spatial channel modelling for omni-like observations with temporal characteristics is firstly interpreted through analysing the essential channel modelling parameters, including the number of clusters, excess delay, root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread, power delay spectrum, and angular spread. In the authors’ measurements, the average number of clusters was 2.41 with standard deviation of 1.44. The average RMS delay spread was 36.06 ns with standard deviation of 46.73 ns. Furthermore, the mean values of the RMS azimuth spreads of the angle of departure and arrival were 6.65° and 24.04°, respectively.

Tunable Complete Optical Absorption in Multilayer Structures Including Ge2Sb2Te5 without Lithographic Patterns

Controlling the spectral transmission, reflection, and absorption properties of optical structures is of great interest for many applications in photonics. Particularly, perfect absorbers over a wide frequency (wavelength) range are desirable for thin-film thermal emitters, thermo-solar cells, photodetectors, and smart windows. Up to date, several mechanisms have been proposed to achieve nearly 100% absorption in various frequency ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum; starting from microwaves to near infrared (NIR) and visible. One of the first demonstrations of a structure that was absorbing with nearly 100% efficiency was proposed by Landy et al. in 2008,[1] where metamaterial resonator arrays were used to achieve narrowband and highly resonant absorption of GHz and THz waves. The narrowband character of the resonances can be an advantage when absorbers with high quality factor are required and wavelength selectivity is desirable. However, there are many applications that need broadband absorption. To this end great efforts have been made during the last decade, for instance by mixing multiple resonances in a many-fold resonator, which can lead to, e.g., dual band[2] or multiband[3-9] resonant absorption. Unfortunately fabrication of these structures requires sophisticated techniques such as micro- or nano-lithography, severely limiting their scalability and increasing the cost of the absorber.

Optical generation of single-cycle 10 MW peak power 100 GHz waves

We demonstrate the generation of 100 GHz single-cycle pulses with up to 10 MW of peak power using optical rectification and broadband phase matching via the tilted pulse front (TPF) technique in lithium niobate. The optical driver is a cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG amplifier providing tens of mJ energy, ~5 ps long laser pulses. We obtain a high THz pulse energy up to 65 µJ with 31.6 MV/m peak electric field when focused close to its diffraction limit of 2.5 mm diameter. A high optical-to-THz energy conversion efficiency of 0.3% at 85 K is measured in agreement with numerical simulations. This source is of great interest for a broad range of applications, such as nonlinear THz field-matter interaction and charged particle acceleration for ultrafast electron diffraction and table-top X-ray sources.

Resonant cavities for efficient LT-GaAs photoconductors operating at λ = 1550 nm

We show that photoconductors based on low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) can be efficiently operated by 1.55 μm telecom wavelength by using metallic mirror based optical cavities. Two different semi-transparent front mirrors are compared: the first one is a thin gold layer, whereas the second one consists of a gold grating. Light absorption in grating mirror based optical cavities is numerically, analytically, and experimentally investigated allowing for an appropriate optical design. We show a 3 times improvement of the LT-GaAs photoconductor photoresponse by using, as front mirror, the gold grating once compared with the thin gold layer. It reaches around 0.5 mA/W under continuous wave, whereas a transient photoresistivity (Ron) as low as 5 Ω is deduced from dc photocurrents measured under femtosecond pulsed laser excitation. This work paves the way to efficient and reliable optoelectronics systems for GHz or THz waves sampling driven by 1.55 μm pulsed lasers widely available.

Design features and initial operation of a linear plasma device for the feasibility study of charge separation in curved magnetic field

Mitigation of heat flux impinging on divertor plates is a critical engineering issue even for the fusion reactor adopting innovative super-X divertor. In this work, we are exploring the possibility for resolving this problem by converting a substantial portion of thermal energy of ions into electricity in front of the divertor plates. Since successful energy conversion is followed by the separation of electrons from the plasma, the rigorous investigation for the conditions of efficient charge separation is essential. Considering that the charge separation is affected by intricate relations between plasma density, drift velocity, Larmor radius, and field curvature, we have recently designed and constructed a new linear plasma device at Seoul National University for studying the feasibility of the charge separation by curved magnetic field. The device consists of the driving section including a typical electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma source operating at 2.45GHz wave frequency and the diffusion section where a cylindrical chamber is surrounded by a pair of solenoid coils for generating various curved magnetic field structures. The plasma density in the experimental region is measured to be around the middle of 1015m−3 for the optimum ECR field, depending on the gas pressure and microwave power. The preliminary results clearly show that the charged particles in the plasma with a density range of 1015m−3 can be separated quite well by an extremely slanted cusp magnetic field. We are planning to increase the microwave power to increase the plasma density up to 1017m−3, making it possible to investigate charge separation at higher density condition.

Development of a dual frequency (110/138 GHz) gyrotron for JT-60SA and its extension to an oscillation at 82 GHz

A dual-frequency gyrotron, which can generate 110 GHz and 138 GHz waves independently, is being developed in JAEA to enable electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and current drive (ECCD) in a wider range of plasma discharge conditions of JT-60SA. Conditioning operation of the gyrotron toward 1 MW for 100 s, which is the target output power and pulse length for JT-60SA, is in progress without significant problems. Oscillations of 1 MW for 10 s and 0.5 MW for 198 s were obtained, so far, at both frequencies. Cooling water temperatures in the gyrotron and matching optics unit were saturated in the 198 s oscillation, and the observed maximum water temperature is sufficiently low. In addition to the above activity on the dual- frequency gyrotron development, an oscillation (0.3 MW for 20 ms) at 82 GHz was demonstrated as an additional frequency of the dual-frequency gyrotron. A possibility of the use of fundamental harmonic wave at 82 GHz in JT-60SA has been shown.

Long-pulse Plasma Discharges by Upgraded ECH System in the LHD

Until 2009, three high-power, over 1MW each, 77GHz gyrotrons have been installed and applied to the LHD experiment. In addition, a 154GHz gyrotron of 1MW was installed in 2012. The 77GHz gyrotrons suffer gradual increases of internal pressure during long-pulse operation delivering power to LHD. To mitigate the problem, quasi-steady operation by combination of on-off operations of the 77GHz gyrotrons was performed. Applying two 77GHz gyrotrons alternately with intervals of two minutes and an 84GHz gyrotron continuously, a 30 min. long-pulse discharge with the line average electron density n e_ave of 0.7×1019 m−3 and the central electron temperature T e0 of 1.7keV was achieved by the time average injection power P inj of 260kW in 2012, showing significant progress in sustained density from the former 65 min. discharge with n e_ave of 0.15×1019 m−3 and T e0 of 1.7keV by P inj of 110kW of 84GHz wave. In 2013, one of the 77GHz gyrotron was improved to furnish a sub-window to remove stray radiation inside the tube. And the new 154GHz gyrotron was applied to the long-pulse discharge experiment. Using three gyrotrons: 154, the improved and an existing 77GHz with P inj of 340kW in total, higher temperature plasma having steep temperature gradient typical for internal transport barrier, with n e_ave of 1.1×1019 m−3 and T e0 of 3.5keV was quite stably sustained for 325s.

Development of 24GHz Rectenna for Receiving and Rectifying Modulated Waves

In this paper, we show experimental results of RF-DC conversion with modulated 24GHz waves. We have already developed class-F MMIC rectenna with resonators for higher harmonics at no modulated 24GHz microwave for RF energy transfer. Dimensions of the MMIC rectifying circuit is 1 mm × 3 mm on GaAs. Maximum RF-DC conversion efficiency is measured 47.9% for a 210 mW microwave input of 24 GHz with a 120 Ω load. The class-F rectenna is based on a single shunt full-wave rectifier. For future application of a simultaneous energy and information transfer system or an energy harvesting from broadcasting waves, input microwave will be modulated. In this paper, we show an experimental result of RF-DC conversion of the class-F rectenna with 24GHz waves modulated by 16QAM as 1st modulation and OFDM as 2nd modulation.

상용 90도 하이브리드 커플러를 이용한 5.8GHz 대역 4×4 버틀러매트릭스 설계

Abstract - In this paper, 5.8GHz band 4×4 Butler matrix is designed using easily accessible commercial 90° hybrid coupler and semirigid coaxial cable as a transmission line. This Butler matrix is very flexible to changes of antenna system specification like a frequency band because 90° hybrid coupler changing is all to do. The result of design is the distance of 2×2 array antenna element is  , the 4 beam directions are diagonal of array antenna and phase shifter is not necessary. The beam width is roughly 25° narrower because of array antenna geometry and the side lobe is about 10dB higher partially than theoretical beam pattern. But the overall beam pattern is similar with theoretical beam. This Butler matrix can be applied to switching beam antenna of 5.8GHz band Wi-Fi and WAVE system.Key Words : 4×4 Butler matrix, 2×2 array antenna, Commercial 90° hybrid coupler, Wi-Fi, WAVE†Corresponding Author : Dept. of Computer and Electronics, Induk University, KoreaE-mail : bhpark@induk.ac.kr 접수일자 : 2014년 5월 14일수정일자 : 2014년 8월 1일 최종완료 : 2014년 8월 5일

The study of the transmission of GHz waves in the oceanic low altitude waveguide in the PEM-based gridded method

A parabolic equation method (PEM)-based discrete algorithm is proposed and is used to obtain the field distribution in the evaporation duct space. This method not only improves the computing speed, but also provides the flexibility to adjust the simulation accuracy. Numerical simulation of the wave propagation in the oceanic waveguide structure is done. In addition, the initial field distribution and progressive steps are determined. The loss model in the waveguide is solved through the numerical solution. By comparing the characteristics of the radio wave propagation in the duct and in the normal atmospheric structure, we analyses the radio transmission over the horizon detection in the oceanic waveguide.